Yankees designate Ron Marinaccio for assignment
09/20/2024 06:31 PM
In need of a roster spot, the Yankees have designated the once-promising reliever.
The Yankees announced this afternoon that they designated Ron Marinaccio for assignment. The club had reinstated Cody Poteet from his rehab assignment, necessitating a subsequent move to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
The casualty came in the form of Marinaccio, who was just never quite able to get it going again after a promising rookie season. The right-hander burst onto the scene in 2022, running a sparkling 2.05 ERA in 44 innings with the Yankees. He's been up and down ever since, posting a 3.95 ERA (and an unsettling 4.77 FIP) in 70.2 innings spread across the last two season.
Marinaccio performed well in Triple-A this season, but mistakes plagued him whenever the Yankees auditioned him in the majors. After a mid-June call-up, Marinaccio gave up a run in his first three appearances, including a crushing go-ahead homer in relief of Gerrit Cole in Cole's season debut against the Orioles:
The final nail in the coffin came at the beginning of September, with Marinaccio summoned to the bigs after rosters expanded. He gave up two runs in both of his appearances before shuttling back to Scranton.
Marinaccio, now 29, still only has two years of service time, so an opposing team may pluck him off waivers as a long-term project. His changeup that once befuddled major league hitters has lost much of its bite, and his fastball velo is down a full tick since his rookie season, meaning any acquiring team will have to work to arrest the trends that the Yankees were unable to fix. Should he clear waivers, the Yankees can send him back to Triple-A, where he'll wait and see if he can earn one more chance.
